69 years behind bars, 444 lashes and 14 years of exile for detained Dervishes

Sentences for 285 Gonabadi dervishes have been issued by the judges, Salavati and Ahmadzadeh of the Revolutionary Court. According to the report published by the Majzooban noor, the sentences are as below:

Mehrdad Eynie: 2 years behind bars, 2years of travel ban from the country and deprivation of social activities.

Iranian Sufi Dervishes of the Gonabadi School shot to the headlines across the country after their protest against the arrest of one of their members led to violent encounter with security forces on early hours of Tuesday February 20.

The Sufi Muslim group of Gonabadi Dervishes have been subject to persecution since the coming to power of the mainstream Shiite theocracy of Islamic Republic in 1979. However in the past month followers of this Sufi group have been under more pressure with the intelligence faction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) putting their leader’s house under surveillance, threatening followers and arresting them.